2. Hire a lawyer that is known as a scorched-earth aggressive litigator. Those descriptors generally translate into really expensive, although the vast majority of court cases end up settling. Your lawyer or the law firm’s website should compare the realignment of your family to an armed invasion of a hostile nation without any regard for the effects this attitude will have you and your kids, even post-divorce.

3. Find a Massachusetts divorce attorney that tells you what you want to hear, tries to scare you, or encourages what might be an unreasonable position in order to bill lots of hours on your case.

5. Select a Massachusetts divorce attorney that has not had training in mediation or the collaborative process, even if you have a court-based case. In fact, if you meet with someone that focuses on the negatives of mediation or the collaborative divorce process (even though they don’t practice either) in an effort to make you feel even more worried, then that should also help you spend more money.

6. Focus mainly on things that happened in the past instead of preparing for the days ahead.

7. Be easily manipulated by well-intentioned family members and friends who are giving you advice based upon their friend’s sister from a different state who is a lawyer or pretends to be one, but not a Massachusetts family law attorney.

8. Disregard the fact that lots of the conflict swirling around relationships and divorce is more emotional than legal. Hire a law firm that ignores this.

9. Encourage your lawyer to engage in expensive and unnecessary discovery tactics that are unlikely to lead to obtaining any really useful information.

Following these steps should help guarantee that your divorce will cost tens of thousands of dollars…or maybe much more!

If you believe a more reasoned approach to divorce makes sense for you, your children, and your financial situation, then call The Divorce Collaborative today to schedule a confidential meeting at (508) 346-3805.